Moncton’s Magnetic Hill Zoo is asking for the public’s help in naming two of its newest members.
The Amur tigers, an 18-month-old female and a 15-month-old male, need names and the zoo staff have it narrowed down to four choices per tiger. They all have a Russian theme to honour where the tigers are from.
“The choices that we have for female names are Anya, Misha, Sasha and Shaibu. Male tiger names are Alik, Boris, Kir and Yuli,” says zoo curator Jamie Carson.
The unnamed tigers will grow to about twice their current size.
“The tigers are juveniles right now, they are kind of at an adolescent stage,” says Carson. “They are a little over 200 pounds; they are expected to be closer to 400 pounds as adults. Tigers are normally the largest of the large cats.”
That growth will take a lot of protein.
“Chicken, rabbits, red meat and also a hamburger mixture that comes to us from the Toronto Zoo,” says Carson.
The zoo isn’t certain whether the tigers are reproductively compatible, but if sparks fly, they hope to see baby tigers at some point.
“We have very high hopes that we may have baby tigers here in the future,” says Carson.
For now, zoo officials are focused on naming the new tigers. The naming contest closes May 14. Entry forms can be found at the zoo.
With files from CTV Atlantic's David Bell
